


my rose garden dreams, set on fire by fiends

by orphan_account



Category: Inhumans (Comics), Inhumans (TV 2017)
Genre: 1x03 speculation, F/M, Post 1x02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2019-01-08 03:39:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12246249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Remember what I taught you, Medusa said.And Crystal remembers. Everything.





	my rose garden dreams, set on fire by fiends

“Have you made your choice?” Maximus asks, a mask of polite expectation on his face. Crystal fights the impulse to ball her hands into fists and punch him between the eyes; maybe that would finally show everyone his true colors.

There are five guards in the room, fully armed, watching her every move. There is no escaping without catching a bullet, she doesn’t have to be Karnak to know that.

Maximus comes closer, taking small, benign steps that make her feel no less like a caged prey. She raises her head. 

She could breach the short distance between them. Look into his eyes and pretend to see there something that doesn’t disgust her. She knows he finds her attractive – he said so already – and, after all, aren’t all men, at the base, exactly the same? She could come close enough for him to smell her perfume, the strong, earthy fragrance she got from Medusa. She could bare her neck.

And then, slowly, she could wind her arms around his neck, pull herself closer until their bodies touched. She knows he wouldn’t push her away. She could press her lips to his, gently, inexpertly, let him underestimate her, he would want her to be inexperienced, his to shape and guide. And he would deepen the kiss (would his lips taste like poison, his tongue like a snake entering her mouth, making her want to gag?) and pull her closer into his body. Her hands would sneak under his collar, skin touching skin, and then she would summon the fire and let it consume him until there was nothing but ash in her hands.

But the guards would kill her, surely. And even if they wouldn’t, there might still be dozens of fail safes Maximus had set up to protect himself from her. Lockjaw’s life, for one. She would not endanger him.

And what would happen to the city when Maximus was dead? When both of them were dead? If the guard took control of the people, it would be a bloodbath. She cannot risk that.

“Crystal?” Maximus’s lips twist into a smirk as if he knows exactly what she’s been thinking. She bites her tongue.

Another one of her daring plans then, a failure. How can she outsmart him without setting the whole city aflame?

_Do you even remember, what your parents fought for?_ Maximus’s words, that haunted her all night.

_Remember what I taught you_ , Medusa said.

And Crystal remembers. Everything.

“Yes,” she says. Even though her lips tremble when she speaks, she knows she will handle it. She is strong. Like Medusa. Like their parents. “I will support you.”

 


End file.
